Professor Ian Wilkinson

Arterial Haemodynamics and Experimental Medicine

My research focuses on understanding the biological pathways underlying systemic hypertension and arteriosclerosis, with a strong emphasis on basic physiology, experimental/translational medicine and early phase interventional clinical trials. Current major research projects include:

• The clinical value of novel haemodynamic biomarkers
• Assessing vascular inflammation in COPD and its importance
• The role of glycosaminoglycans in blood pressure and aortic stiffness regulation
• Developing non-invasive imaging for vascular inflammation; and calcification
• The impact of cardiovascular risk factors, and novel drugs on nitric oxide production and endothelial function
• Expression profiling of human aortae to identify novel stiffening candidates. 

My group has expertise in vascular physiology/pharmacology, hypertension, endothelial biology and trial design. We have strong links with the Cambridge PhD and MPhil training programme in Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, and with several major pharmaceutical and device companies. I led the establishment of the Cambridge Clinical Trials Unit, which recently received NIHR accreditation. I have active collaborations with biomedical engineering, matrix biology, chemistry, and imaging in Cambridge; and external collaborations with the Universities of Cardiff, Manchester, Kings College London, Royal Brompton Hospital, and McQuarrie (Australia) and Zurich (Switzerland). My group also has developed collaborative partnerships with a number of Pharmaceutical Companies and Device Manufactures.